June 20, 2017 AT 2:56 pm

Supreme Court – government may not refuse to register potentially offensive names #makerbusiness

“The danger of viewpoint discrimination,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, “is that the government is attempting to remove certain ideas or perspectives from a broader debate. That danger is all the greater if the ideas or perspectives are ones a particular audience might think offensive, at least at first hearing.”

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“To permit viewpoint discrimination in this context is to permit Government censorship,” Justice Kennedy wrote.

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“If the federal registration of a trademark makes the mark government speech, the federal government is babbling prodigiously and incoherently,”

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“It is saying many unseemly things. It is expressing contradictory views. It is unashamedly endorsing a vast array of commercial products and services. And it is providing Delphic advice to the consuming public.”